Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Lower the Drinking Age to 18 in U.S. says Hunger Games Co-Star

From CelebrityFix (Australia) "Hunger Games star: US should lower drinking age to 18":

Most of his fans are probably too young to drink, but that doesn't faze 19-year-old Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson, who told TMZ he wants the US to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18.

J-Hutch thinks that if you can go to war at 18, you should be allowed to drink too, responding to questions about the underage drinking scandal surrounding his co-star Alexander Ludwig. Watch his super-smooth response to the prickly question above.

Ludwig, who plays Cato in the film, is under police investigation after being snapped leaving a bar in Hollywood earlier this week. He is 19, but was let into the over-21s-only bar The Sayers Club.

Editor's note - Your humble editor has seen the largely libertarian-themed Hunger Games, and gives it a full 5 Stars!

"Drinking age" is an oblique reference to purchasing, yes? The age at which one is permitted to purchase a drink for one's self, whether or not one chooses to inhale?

BTW, Casey made a great case on "drinking age" a short while back. I now agree with Casey and Kn@pp: such purchase and consumption judgements for minors are best in the hands of parents, bartenders and one's insurance contract - in other words, beyond State's powers.

Actually, police in some jurisdictions use the standard to enforce noise regulations. It's not a design restriction from the manufacture by their own dictum, but federal law. Like anything else, enforcement puts teeth in laws. In some places people are getting tired of loud motorcycles and the police use the law to enforce noise regulations.

The United States does have a de facto federal drinking age, or at least used to.

Because it could not be imposed straight down the line through legislation, it was done with purse-string extortion -- states were threatened with loss of pro rata highway maintenance funds unless they raised their drinking age to 21.

The promoter of that policy was that old lefty nanny statist, Ronald Reagan.